An Analysis On The Dual Characters Of The Heroine In Agnes Grey From The Perspective Of Feminist Theory

Anne Bronte is one of the most important female authors in the English literary history in the1840s. She uses the delicate narrative method and unique perspective to show in her works what lives females lead, what oppression females are undergoing and what awareness females are supposed to hold to realize their independence and equality. Agnes Grey, which is regarded as a masterpiece of Anne Bronte, tells a story about how a young woman sets foot in the society and what oppression she has encountered on the way to the pursuit for equality. There have been a variety of critics and studies on the novel Agnes Grey from domestic and overseas, which involve the study of the characters in the novel, the analysis on the themes, the exploration for the narrative method and the analysis on the feminist elements in the novel.This thesis aims to analyze the dual characters of Agnes, the heroine in the novel, through the feminist point of view, which means that some of Agnes’characters reveal the qualities of feminism, while there are also some aspects about her personalities that lack in the feminist conceptions or that go against them. Although a great number of scholars have studied and analyzed the novel through the feminist point of view, it is not quite common for them to analyze the dual characters of Agnes, especially the characters that lack in the feminist awareness and the reasons why she has formed this kind of complex personalities. The author of this thesis aims to analyze the characters of the protagonist in Agnes Grey from a wider and comprehensive perspective.The thesis is divided into five parts. In the first chapter, Anne Bronte and the novel Agnes Grey will be introduced, which is followed by the literary review on the relevant fields. The second chapter involves the introduction of feminist theory. In the third chapter which is the main body of the thesis, the dual characters of Agnes will be analyzed through the feminist point of view, which is represented from her attitude towards career, marriage and relationship as well as attitude towards unjustifiable treatment and love. Next chapter is about the reasons why Agnes has formed the complicated personalities, which is implemented through the analysis on the economic, social and the family’s influence. The fifth chapter, also the last part, is the conclusion which concludes Agnes’characters that reveal and lack in the feminist awareness and illustrates the value of this thesis by means of illustrating what a significant role Agnes has played in guiding the females on how to rebel the oppression, how to pursue equality and real independence and how to realize their own value.